About the Art of Love or a Film with 14441 Frames (1972) is a documentary short written, directed, shot and edited by Karpo A. Godina. Typographic intervnetions are by Slobodan Mašić and the soundtrack by Peđa and Bata Vranešević aka Laboratorija zvuka. Produced by Zastava film.

“The army asked me to make an official military film. Instead I made one that said: ‘Make love, not war.’ The military literally chopped it up with an axe, but I was able to save one print.” (Karpo Godina)

The film is set in Saramazalino, a village near Štip, Macedonia and explores the fact that there was no interaction between some thousands of girls, workers in a textile factory, and some thousands of soldiers stationed in a garrison nearby. The film is a visual collage of steady master shots and the whole narration of the film is in the soundtrack.

I love to watch this movie through the eyes of generals who “literally chopped it up with an axe” after they finished watching it. In the book (page 191) I also found the letter from the future by Anonymous Troll to generals (in general):

dear general,
don’t worry we’re from the internet. from the future. anonymous advisers.

our consultancy is direct and unrelenting. you will not hear what you yearn for. you are rigid. and you don’t have sense of humor. you have power.

your power and rigidity turn you into the material suitable for sculptures. sculptors are invaders. and like sun tzu teaches us: you must use the path of an invader.

let me tell you story about barbra streisand. first, a little bit of history, in your case: a little bit of future. soon, people will be able to send texts, images, sounds and videos to each other without any delay all around the world. that’s what we, from the future, call internet.

in 2003 barbra streisand will try to stop kenneth adelman from publishing a photo of her house. at that moment in reality just few hundred people would see the photo. soon after that, due to her celebrity status, many will publish the news about her attempt and as a result more than half a million people will get to see the photo in the following month. she didn’t use the path of an invader, of anonymous sculptor.

that is why when the sculptor wishes for cannons facing each other during the filming: use the path of invader. calm down. and you’ll be fine.

don’t feed the art with rigidity and power. get the sense of humor. or in the future history will mock you.